How to find house with level entry/disabled access in St. Charles area (St. Louis: sale)

[Bootser]

I've been amazed out how inaccessible everything is around here in the way of housing (in terms of disability). We are looking primarily in St. Charles and Saint Peters, but will also consider O'fallon and Creve Coeur. Work is in St. Charles and we'd like to be within 10 miles, but will do up to about 15. This is for someone with severe knee problems who is not in a wheelchair, but stairs and even one big step up are tough. And the problem is degenerative and will lead to more surgery and at least temporary wheelchair use in the future, if not worse, so the house needs to fit current and future needs.

The hardest things to find are places where you can get into the garage without stairs (most are laid out so you can't even install a ramp), and a main-floor laundry room.

We want a roomy ranch with a main-floor laundry room and either level access from the garage to the house or a way to put a ramp in there to get to the house. That means location of the door that leads into the garage is vital so that it can go along the back or side and not prevent you from still putting two cars in there. We ideally want to stay around $150,000, but that can go up a bit for the right place.

We just started talking today about maybe putting a chair lift in a stairwell and thus getting a two-story place -- anyone know how well those work? I was really reluctant to try that as it seems I wouldn't want to go to areas upstairs often because the lift is a bit slow and obnoxious. But maybe I should consider it.

We've found one accessible house that's *way* above the price we wanted (but we could just manage by doing a longer mortgage), and a little disappointing in that there is no bathtub in the house and a few other problems that will cost a bit to repair, though it is a nice place overall. The second place we found is not accessible at entry, but the layout of the garage is such that we could get a ramp in there, and both of these places have a big main-floor laundry room. The second place where we'd need a ramp isn't quite the layout in the house that we want, no kitchen island, no counter space in the bathrooms, etc. And it has a large monthly condo fee (it's a ranch-style townhome).

There is so much out there that we really like for our pricerange, but it's not accessible. Any ideas on where else to look? We may well in the end just go with one of the things we've already found, though it rankles to pay more for a place that isn't really what you want.

[aragx6]

I can't speak to this exact house, but I believe most of the ranches in this neighborhood as well as some of the adjoining neighborhoods are unlikely to have steps into the garage. I'm sure there are others nearby like it to look into as well.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...6_M81058-12464

[Bootser]

Originally Posted by aragx6

I can't speak to this exact house, but I believe most of the ranches in this neighborhood as well as some of the adjoining neighborhoods are unlikely to have steps into the garage. I'm sure there are others nearby like it to look into as well.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...6_M81058-12464

Thanks, but none of the ones on sale on that street mention a main-floor laundry.

[aragx6]

^Good point. I just figure of all the things one would have to retrofit, throwing a W/D in a main-floor closet might well be the easiest.

[Bootser]

Originally Posted by aragx6

^Good point. I just figure of all the things one would have to retrofit, throwing a W/D in a main-floor closet might well be the easiest.

That's what we thought, but turns out it's hard to find a main-floor closet big enough for the job that shares a wall with a bathroom (which is what we were told to look for). Our agent said it would be easy when asked, then couldn't find a single place that worked. We looked into it ourselves and came up with nothing, too.

[meredithhr]

Hi Booster- Good luck with your search! I really hope that you can find something that suits your needs. Most of the ranch homes in the STL metro area are going to have stairs from the garage to enter the house.

While I know that your condition is not the same as MS- the MS Society of St. Louis has some good Q&A about finding handicapped accessible housing: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...2gMKhGVF-V2XRQ

Based on budget- you might want to consider partnering with a local builder and seeing if they can design a new house in your budget. There are a lot of new developments in St. Charles. Hope this information helps!

[Bootser]

Originally Posted by meredithhr

Hi Booster- Good luck with your search! I really hope that you can find something that suits your needs. Most of the ranch homes in the STL metro area are going to have stairs from the garage to enter the house.

While I know that your condition is not the same as MS- the MS Society of St. Louis has some good Q&A about finding handicapped accessible housing: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...2gMKhGVF-V2XRQ

Based on budget- you might want to consider partnering with a local builder and seeing if they can design a new house in your budget. There are a lot of new developments in St. Charles. Hope this information helps!

Thanks so much, but we already gave up and got a house that isn't really accessible. We can, however, get a ramp in from the garage. The hallway and doors are narrow, but they will fit my mobility scooter should I have a bad day and need to use it around the house. And if I ever have to use a wheelchair around the house, we'll just have to get an power one as it is smaller and a manual one would be hard to roll on shag carpet.